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Case Example: Adversaries Find Common Ground
Clinic students mediated a case between a construction company whose employee had dropped a tool from a scaffold and the woman on whose car the tool had fallen. The car owner had presented the bill for repairs to the construction company, but the company's owner had refused to pay, believing the cost could not have been as high as the woman claimed. The woman sued him in Harlem Small Claims Court, where both parties agreed to have their case mediated by Columbia students. The student mediators explained the process to both parties, listened to their stories, and summarized the information straightforwardly. They also _suggested that they hold separate meetings with each party. Although the woman had held her ground in front of her adversary, privately she was able to rethink the dispute and said that she would be willing to lower her claim. Likewise, in private, the man increased his offer by several hundred dollars. The mediators brought the parties back together and they agreed amicably on a price. The students then wrote up the agreement—specifying how and when the payment would be made—and submitted it to the judge.
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